1. Full name: Nguyen Thi Thanh Xuyen;                           2. Sex: Female

3. Date of birth: 27 - 8 - 1986;                                        4. Place of birth: Binh Dinh province

5. Admission decision number: 3216/2014/QĐ-XHNV-SĐH. Dated: 31^st December 2014.

6. Changes in academic process:

- Changing in the supervisors: Assoc.Prof. Nguyen Van Minh for Assoc.Prof. Le Si Giao, according to the admission decision number 3216/QĐ-XHNV, dated 27^th September 2016.

- Changing in the thesis title: from “Worshiping Goddess of Kinh people at the coastal of Khanh Hoa province” to “Rituals of worshiping Goddess in Nha Trang” according to the admission decision number 254/QĐ-XHNV, dated 14^th  February 2107.

- Extending the study period in 1 month (1/1/2018 - 31/1/2018) according to the admission decision number 3549/QĐ-XHNV dated 29^th Decembre 2017.

7. Official thesis title: Rituals of worshiping Goddess in Nha Trang.

8. Major: Anthropology; 9. Code: 62 31 03 02

10. Supervisors: Assoc.Prof. Nguyen Van Minh

11. Summary of the new findings of the thesis:

- Thesis purpose: Studying ritual practices of Kinh people’s  Goddess worship in Nha Trang to clarify the relationship between efficaciousness and transformation of ritual practices.

- Research methods of dissertation: Analysis and synthesis; qualitative research (participant observation and in-depth interview).

- The dissertation addresses issues such as ritual forms of Goddess worship and their efficaciousness from aspects of  performativity and practical strategies with new findings as follows:

+ Identify ritual practices of Goddess worship in Nha Trang from the historical and cultural context as well as the acculturation of the Cham and the Kinh people; The acculturation  is  the basis  to understand the Goddess worship in Nha Trang.

+ Explore the transformation process from “attending a seance” to four Goddess worship that has derived from ritual practices and daily life ones. It is important to identify characteristics of the authority of ritual practices providing new arguments for analysis framework on ritual efficaciousness.

+ The efficaciousness which has derived from performativity strategy  and daily life present practitioners’ behaviors and their adaption to changes in the environment and livelihoods. This adaptation clearly demonstrates the subjectivity and authority of the practitioners.

+ Examine the efficaciousness in the correlation among transforming ritual practices, risk control, and suitability to have an overview of the appropriateness of the rituals in humans’ daily life. In addition, the correlation indicates that behind the changes in the effectiveness, there exists numerous problems of socio-economic transformation, especially the strong transformation in urban areas that could possibly cause various risks and uncertainties.

12. Practical applicability, if any: 

Contribute new findings on transforming practices from “attending a seance” to four Goddess worship, thus providing scientific arguments  for the preservation of Goddess culture in Nha Trang city.

13. Further research directions, if any:

It is necessary to develop further research on the relationship between practice transformations and exploiting cultural product on tourism activities.

14. Thesis-related publication:

- Nguyen Thi Thanh Xuyen (2015), “Changing” or “building” a tradition: The values of religious activities in tourism (The case study of two wards in Nha Trang city, Khanh Hoa province), Social Sciences of The Central Region Review (4), pp. 56-63.

- Nguyen Thi Thanh Xuyen (2016), “ Legitimatization traditional creativeness in the conservation of goddess worship in Nha Trang”, Social Sciences of The Central Region Review (2), pp.30-39.

- Nguyen Thi Thanh Xuyen (2016), “The procedure of spirit mediumship ritual (A case study in Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa province)”, Social Sciences of The Central Region Review (5), pp.32-42.

- Nguyen Thi Thanh Xuyen (2017), “Analyses of efficaciousness  of spirit mediumship rituals in medium’s lives in Nha Trang”, Social Sciences of The Central Region Review (2), pp. 56-64.

- Nguyen Thi Thanh Xuyên (2018), “Efficacy of rituals in anthropology theories: Perspectives and some discussions”, Social Sciences of The Central Region Review (2), pp.43-50.

- Nguyen Thi Thanh Xuyen (2016), Worshiping Goddesses of Kinh people at the coastal of Khanh Hoa province, Fine Art publishing house.

- Nguyen Thi Thanh Xuyen (2017), Spirit mediumship rituals in Four Places at Nha Trang city, VNU Press.